18 U.S.C. § 1720
Canceled stamps and envelopes
United States · Title 18 — CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE · Status: effective
Cite this
- Citation
- 18 U.S.C. § 1720, Canceled stamps and envelopes, United States, version 1 as recorded 2026-07-09, yourstate.us, https://yourstate.us/provision/449339
- Permanent ID
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Full text
Whoever uses or attempts to use in payment of postage, any canceled postage stamp, whether the same has been used or not, or removes, attempts to remove, or assists in removing, the canceling or defacing marks from any postage stamp, or the superscription from any stamped envelope, or postal card, that has once been used in payment of postage, with the intent to use the same for a like purpose, or to sell or offer to sell the same, or knowingly possesses any such postage stamp, stamped envelope, or postal card, with intent to use the same or knowingly sells or offers to sell any such postage stamp, stamped envelope, or postal card, or uses or attempts to use the same in payment of postage; or
Whoever unlawfully and willfully removes from any mail matter any stamp attached thereto in payment of postage; or
Whoever knowingly uses in payment of postage, any postage stamp, postal card, or stamped envelope, issued in pursuance of law, which has already been used for a like purpose—
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; but if he is a person employed in the Postal Service, he shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.
Legislative history
The public laws that enacted or amended this section. Tallies are for the whole bill as it passed each chamber — often an omnibus covering far more than this provision — not a vote on this section alone. The law that originally enacted this section predates the public laws loaded here, so only later amendments are listed.
- Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994